TALLULAH, La. — When Griselle Sanchez of Covington got a call from her son that he needed money for water, she was a bit surprised.
“He said, “Ma, I haven’t drunk water for almost a week now,’” said Sanchez.
She says her son is serving a 12-year sentence for a nonviolent conviction at the Madison Correctional Center in Tallulah.
“I’m concerned. I’m really concerned,” said Sanchez.
Those concerns grew when she started seeing cell phone videos posted on social media over the last few days.
“Day seven. Still ain’t got no water,” said an inmate in one of the videos.
The videos are filmed by inmates inside the correctional center, who claim they haven’t had clean water in a week. They say the toilets won’t flush, they can’t shower, and the water they do get is brown.
“The residents of Tallulah had to deal with the same thing. It wasn’t just a prison situation,” said Jack Varner with Security Management LLC, the private company contracted to operate the prison.
Varner says the loss of water is because freezing temperatures last week led to busted pipes across Tallulah. He says the brown color is because of an issue at the town’s water treatment plant but was declared safe to drink by the health department.
“They do not have to drink the town water,” said Varner.
Varner says bottled water is being given to inmates and used to cook with. He also says the videos, made on illegal phones, aren’t what they appear.
“They were staged videos,” said Varner. “The conditions were nowhere close to that.”
While Varner does recognize the conditions haven’t been ideal, he says they’re getting better.
“It breaks my heart, really,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez just wants those conditions to be livable.
“Don’t treat a person like that. I know they’re convicted felons, but you don’t treat people like that. You don’t treat people like that at all,” said Sanchez.
In those cell phone videos, one inmate says bottles of clean water were brought in, but not enough of them.
“fighting over the water. You know how that goes.”
Another man recorded this message.
“There are such things as human rights. When a man can’t defecate, when a man can’t get fresh water, when a man can’t brush his teeth, when a man can’t bath.”
WWL Louisiana reached out to the Madison Parish Sheriff’s Office which was familiar with the problem but referred us to the Correctional Center. No one there would answer our questions. In a statement, the state Department of Corrections says it is aware of the claims and is inspecting the facility. The department also says bottled water is being given to inmates and being used to cook with.